NCAA set for major overhaul

The NCAA Board of Governors on Friday called for a constitutional convention in November, the first step toward launching dramatic reform in the governance of college sports.

Stung for years by criticism that it is too heavyhanded and out of touch, the NCAA said it wants to “reimagine” how to more effectively manage the needs of its more than 450,000 athletes at more than 1,100 schools.

A 22person Constitution Review Committee with university presidents, conference commissioners, athletic directors and students from Divisions I, II and III will be created to redraft the NCAA’s constitutional articles.

Two weeks ago, NCAA president Mark Emmert made headlines when he said it was time to consider a decentralized and deregulated version of college sports that shifted power to conferences and campuses and away from the NCAA.

The willingness to discuss an overhaul of the NCAA comes about a month after the Supreme Court ruled against the organization in what was seen as a bombshell unanimous decision, upholding a lower court ruling in an antitrust case related to caps on educationrelated compensation.